


The Bare Necessities of Life

by pollitt



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: cliche_bingo, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-27
Updated: 2009-07-27
Packaged: 2017-10-05 15:03:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pollitt/pseuds/pollitt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>The simple bare necessities/Forget about your worries and your strife/I mean the bare necessities/Old mother nature's recipes/That bring the bare necessities of life</i> ("The Bare Necessities," From "The Jungle Book")</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Bare Necessities of Life

John has Cheerios stuck in places where Cheerios were never meant to be (thanks to a blue Tupperware sippy-cup-sans-sippy-top full of the heart healthy breakfast cereal being dumped down the back of his shirt), there are at least four stick-on sticker earrings adhered on or near his ear (including one that he's pretty sure is firmly affixed to his sideburn and will need scissors to be removed), and he's swiftly approaching Ph.D. level knowledge of the Disney catalogue (movie and song)*.

The kitchen looks like a there was a land battle between the eggs, flour and chocolate chips; every removable cushion on every chair, loveseat and couch has been collected in the living room and is currently, precisely, constructed into a fort that is covered in a spare blanket; and John hopes that they were able to clean up all the water in the bathroom from the unfortunate whirlpool accident which they will never speak of again (at least until Madison tells on them.)

Rodney, who is equally adorned--although he bore the brunt of the flour assault and was spared the Cheerios--is carrying Madison up to her room when it happens.

"Uncle John, come too," Madison says sleepily, lifting her arm from Rodney's shoulder and reaching toward John.

It's a simple word, said soft and slurred from the mouth of a half-awake five year old but it's the first time he's heard it, and the magnitude of it knocks the breath out of John.

He's an uncle to Dave's kids, sure. He's even actually met them, talked to them and hung out with them, now that the monumental valleys of estrangement between the two Sheppard boys have begun to close. But with Madison, it's somehow more real. And it's not just because there's the beginnings of a gallery of Madison Miller art that's covering a portion of John's office, and not just because she made him his very own pine cone Christmas ornament to hang (in absentia) next to her Uncle Mere's (also in absentia) on the Miller/McKay family Christmas tree.

And not because he remembers the look on her face--those big, huge, holy Christ _blue_ eyes--when he promised her, when he crossed his heart and pinky swore, that he'd bring her mommy home when Wallace had taken Jeannie to places unknown.

For John, it's never been blood--the amount shared or the amount spilled--that's defined family for him. So maybe it is all of those things--and the fact that he's more than a little stupid for her Uncle Mere.

"Uncle John, are you coming?" Rodney asks, turning toward John and smiling like he's just figured out the answer to a question of Douglas Adams proportions.

"Right behind you." John smiles back, reaching out and taking Madison's hand.

* _It's probably a good thing that Rodney loves him, and that everyone either knows about them, or wouldn't be shocked by finding out the truth, because there is proof--on HD-quality video, no less--of his mastery of not only the music and lyrics, but also the choreography of some key, classic Disney tunes. Why he didn't demand in no certain terms that McKay turn *off* the camera, he'll never know._

_Only he does._

_He's a sucker for blue eyes and a pout. He didn't stand a chance against the uncle and niece double-teaming._


End file.
